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A question for the wiring/electrical folks …..

I’m thinking about placing a Stebel 139db “get the F out of my way” air horn in my gutted airbox. I don’t care for the look of this horn in the conventional location and there’s less blockage to the oil cooler with the horn removed. Absorbed current of the Stebel is less than 18A. 14-16 gauge wiring and a 30A fuse are recommended.

I know a relay is required and the concept is simple enough.

Please tell me if I’m way off the mark here. I’m considering employing my unused accessory connector for power to the relay. It looks like it’s a stand alone circuit to fuse #3 (currently 10A) per the schematic.

Is the existing wiring for this circuit at least 14-16 gauge (I’m a lousy judge of gauges by eye-balling it) and will said wiring handle a 30A fuse as there is nothing else in the circuit?

Thanks,

Tom

The wiring/connectors all have resistance and will therefore have a current drop across them. Even though the horn is less than 18a (how much less?), that's a lot of juice on those lines plus whatever is actually dropped across the lines/connectors.

I believe the accessory wires are 16g and personally, I would not put that horn on that circuit. I'd run separate lines...

I not sure what a "gutted" airbox looks like, but without a large "opened" area, there might be a lot of "attenuation" of the of the horn's dbs. It might not be that loud to anybody not sitting on the airbox, or at least to the sides of the airbox. In other words, MAYBE, it might not be that loud in front of the bike.

I put mine in the stock horn position. It doesn't block to air to the oil cooler. Since it is mostly black it is not really very noticeable unless you're looking for it. It is also VERY LOUD.

Gutted airbox:

It's SO close to the battery there, just run a couple wires right to it for power. No fuss, no muss.

Hi Tom;
I'd agree with the running new lines. I also wonder about the decibel loss; it might vibrate your a** but not do much else.
Let me know when/if you get it and I'll come over and give you a hand. We can try some various options to see where it works and sounds best.

I've done the same thing as ladisney, tho if I had a freak I might have put it elsewhere. You really can't see the horn tucked right up there, it doesn't block the oil cooler, and the best place to be heard is at the front where there's no obstruction but I'm sure it'll still have more impact than the standard horn if hidden below the seat.

As far as wiring goes the easiest way is to use the standard horn wiring to power a relay, as the relay draws less current than the standard horn. Run a separate power wire directly to your battery's positive terminal with a 20 amp inline fuse. The horn can be earthed through the mounting point so mount it on some part of the frame and just run a wire to the mount point or the battery negative.

If you do decide to mount it some place exposed use some clear plastic tubing with the optional air intake nozzle to take air from a clean-ish area or you'll kill the horn first time you ride it in the rain.

Did you guys use the air intake nozzle when mounting it on the front? Were you able to use the old mounting hole?

If you look closely at my picture above you will see the original black mounting bracket bolted into the stock horn location. I angled it upward to the mounting point on the horn. That keeps it high, out of the way of the oil cooler and out in the open so my fellow travelers can enjoy every decibel.


By the way, without a relay the Strebel horn will blow the fuse RIGHT NOW!

If you look at Twisted Throttle's website there are pictures of a guy who took the horn apart, put the compressor under the seat and the horn outside.

http://www.twistedthrottle.com/article/articleview/161/1/28/

Thanks guys, I will do the hose thing!

So does it take a while to spool up? Or does it just start spinning as soon as you hit the horn?

Hey Benny, you going to buy one? Maybe I'll come down to LI and we can hook 'em up. Maybe get a CT contingent to head down. I ordered mine today. Should have it by next week.

I really think I should... I love my cool red horns but I need LOUD for these LI streets

Lemme know

Cool. Remember, I don't have a garage anymore So as long as front yard wrenching is ok But yeah, should be simple. Do you have a relay in there or are you stock horn-wise?

If you tap the button very quickly you can get a small peep such as you'd use to remind someone that the green light means go. If you mash the button it is at full volumn by the time the button is fully depressed. Lag time would be measured in milliseconds.

I ordered it from biker hiway. They say the relay is included along with the wire. I should have it next week.

That's where I bought mine from, bikerhiway.com. Everything is included, and was easy to mount under the seat with my Freak setup. Doesn't even get much dirt on it with the toolbox shelf of the Freak protecting it.

OK that's it, I need one... Maybe I can disect mine like that guy on the tiger and mount the horn part up front. Now what to do with my red horns... Maybe I'll just save them for when I have a car of my own and mount them behind the grill. Seen that on a few cars, looks mean.

Well chop chop there Benny. It takes a week to get here from Kalifornia you know.

Well, that was easier than I expected. Tools req'd: 2 screwdrivers and a willing assistant, 3rd hand, vice, etc. Time req'd: about 2 mins (unless taking photos in which case it's 10 mins).

Picture 1 shows the two points where the horn clips onto the compressor. Put a screw driver in these and gently lever apart. Get your friend to lift the compressor out of the horn assembly while you hold the tabs apart. Or swap roles, I don't really care.



Picture 2 shows the partially disassembled horn. No circles on this one.



Picture 3 shows the horn assembly with the compressor's air intake tube circled in yellow and the air outlet in green.



Picture 4 shows the compressor, again with it's air intake in yellow and it's outlet in green.



To fit it all up to the bike you'd need the tubing to connect the two, some means of mounting the horn part on the bike (as the standard mounting's on the compressor), and some sort of metal/plastic tube to push into the horn's air inlet to replace the nozzle hanging off the compressor. You'd probably need some sort of adhesive too - maybe a tube of silicon? You might also want to put some sort of air filter/deflector on the air inlet to protect it from stray boulders/dust/water. You'd probably want to dremel away the original compressor mounting brackets on the horn to tidy things up. Maybe could could glue the original air tube part of the horn onto the compressor.

Nice job!! I was gonna say, that doesn't really cut down on the size... Unless you cut off the old "sleave" of the compressor. I'll have to see! OK, I'm gonna get one...

love mine too, one other thing is the instructions are adamant about the angle cannot be far from level in any direction. see package inside.


mike

It says in the wiring instructions to mount the relay no more them 8" from the battery terminal. I was going to mount it under the tank. What did you guys do?

Here's how I ended up doing it. No problems so far with the relay being beyond the 8" mark.

Thanks for that. How do I know which of the horn wires is hot and ground?

The horn wires? Or the wires coming from the switch?

I plan on re-using the relay/wiring I already have under there for my current horns. Plug n play for me

I mounted my relay on one of the AI pump mount bolts. As long as you use a decent gauge wire you can go more than 8". Most auto shops sell 2 core cable that's got a flat-ish black outer sheath so it doesn't look out of place on the bike. Use insulated crimp-on spade terminals and smear some electrolytic grease on them. While you're at it, get yourself an in-line fuse holder with a weatherproof cap, stick a 20A fuse in it, and wire it up between the relay and the battery positive. Use a mini-blade fuse type if you can find it to keep it compatible with the rest of the fuses.

Easiest way to tell the hot wire is to get a volt meter or a 12V bulb and wire one side up to the bike's frame (on an unpainted bit, a bolt head or something), wire the other side up to one of the horn wires, and press the button. If it doesn't light up, use the other wire.

I got one of those fuse holders too. I've got it wired up to my mini bus along with my driving light relay, battery tender and gerbings plug I'm all wired up baby!! I'll see what the wiring for the horn comes with. I can pick up a couple of those fuse holders for people if we need em.

/Oh and I use the 2 AI mounting points (and the original screws) for my 2 relays.

The stock horn is activated when the horn button goes to ground, not by turning power on. The bottom circuit diagram show how to wire it. 30 & 86 should be from the battery. (Fused at 20 amps or so) 87 is power to the horn. 85 goes to the horn button, when the button is pushed it grounds out the circuit closing the relay and powering the horn. 87a (If your relay has it) is not used.